Opinion: Another nail in the coffin

John Anderson, Special to The Vancouver Sun04.23.2014

The post office in Brentwood was one of the ‘rural’ outlets under threat of reduced hours or closure, but it remains open after being relocated. Other areas weren’t so lucky — the number of closures in rural Canada over the past 30 years has topped 1,700.

When, last December, Canada Post announced the elimination of home delivery in cities and the rise of the single stamp by 60 per cent, this came as a major shock to most people. But there is another hidden Canada Post story that most of us do not know. In rural Canada, Canada Post has been closing post offices for the last 30 years. This process has continued right up to the present day in spite of a 1994 moratorium on further closings. The number of closures has now reached more than 1,700. A new survey asked 1,635 mayors, reeves and band chiefs of communities where there has been a closure what they thought were the effects of losing their post office.

While some communities saw their federally run post office replaced with a franchise outlet, 53 per cent of communities now have no postal outlet of any kind. The closures of post offices were seen by many respondents as “another nail in the coffin of rural Canada.” Some 24 per cent of communities, even many with a franchise postal outlet, expressed very high levels of dissatisfaction with present postal service.

Seniors, people with disabilities and people without access to a car are particularly hard hit when they have to travel to a post office. Our respondents told us the average round trip to mail or pick up a parcel is 26 kilometres, and, in many cases, much longer. So there goes the dream of many rural communities of repositioning themselves as retirement havens.

Said Brigitte Rouleau, Directrice Générale, St-Marcellin, Que.: “The closure of a post office in a municipality always has a negative effect and it is the whole population which feels it ... Potential new residents are little inclined to settle in a municipality which offers few services.”

The environment suffers as hundreds of thousands of kilometres are logged by thousands just to reach a post office.

“The closure has increased the carbon footprint due to the additional travel and as a result has the potential for a detrimental impact on our environment,” said Bonnie Adams, Reeve of Carlaw/Mayo Township, Ont. In the Internet era, sending and receiving parcels has grown, and many small businesses depend even more on reasonably priced, reliable, local postal service. That means the closing or cutting back on postal services hurts the economy of rural Canada. Who would start a home-based or mail order business in a community without a post office? Kelley Laking, clerk of the Village of Pleasantdale, Sask., said: “I believe a full service post office is the backbone of a community. Rural communities particularly are slowly dying as local businesses relocate in order to remain competitive.”

Losing good jobs with benefits in rural communities is a particularly hard blow when good jobs are so scarce.

“Loss of post offices has an economic impact on rural Nova Scotia. The service is a unifying force in the country. Plus, every job (and) every salary is important to sustain rural Canada,” reported the District of Shelburne on the Osborne Harbour post office closure.

Many complained that, in some franchised outlets, the municipality or band had to take over the running of the postal outlet and the costs were simply being downloaded to the municipality or band administration. One respondent, from the band council in Hartley Bay, B.C., complained that the $6,000 per year provided to run the franchise post office was far too low.

The closures have also affected the soul of many communities:

“The closure of the post office has taken away the personal touch from the community,” said David Shulist, the mayor of Wilno, Ont. “It is hard to talk to a metal box. ... Bring back our post office! We have lost our identity.”

Canada Post should begin listening to communities which have many suggestions to improve postal services. Sixty per cent of respondents wanted other services offered at a postal outlet such as banking, prescriptions, and federal and provincial services. Offering other services could help pay for declining letter volumes.

We could still save rural Canada Post services if we were to put an end to all postal outlet closures. We should set up national and provincial panels, formed of all major stakeholders, such as Canada Post, municipalities and band councils, seniors and people with disabilities groups as well as postal unions, to examine postal service needs.

John Anderson, principal, Anderson Consulting, carried out the survey and study for the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association. The study is available for download at: http://cpaa-acmpa.ca/pub/files/SurveyApril2014EN.pdf

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Opinion: Another nail in the coffin

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